The holiday season can be a difficult time for people with high blood pressure. If your blood pressure gets too high, it can cause significant harm to your arteries and your entire body. Everyone wants to avoid trips to the hospital emergency room, especially when there may be skeleton crews and a chance for medical negligence. For many, the holiday season provides many opportunities for rich foods, alcoholic beverages, and stress—all of which can increase one’s blood pressure. As long as you adhere to your healthcare provider’s suggestions and consider the following tips, you can prevent your blood pressure from reaching dangerous heights this holiday season.

Enjoy Low-Fat and Low Sugar Alternatives

The heavy foods and sugary desserts of the holiday season can cause your arteries to narrow, thus increasing your blood pressure. While it’s okay to indulge in high-calorie meals occasionally, you should opt for low-fat, low-sugar, and low-sodium alternatives whenever you can. For example, you might buy low-fat eggnog or use a sugar substitute in your cookie recipes.

Limit Your Alcohol Consumption

Alcohol can be an ever-present part of holiday celebrations. Again, while it may be fine to have a drink occasionally during the holiday season, too many can increase your blood pressure. Instead of drinking during holiday events, consider reaching for the sparkling water instead. Doctors recommend healthy persons drink no more than one alcoholic beverage a day if your medications do not indicate otherwise.

Find Time for Exercise

Between putting up decorations, planning meals, and shopping for presents, the holiday season can bring a lot of stress while leaving little time for exercise. Still, it’s important that you find time to stay active—even if it’s just a short walk. Getting your heart rate up on a regular basis can help you burn calories and strengthen your blood vessels. Regular exercise is also great for reducing stress, which can help you keep your blood pressure at a reasonable level. Everyone needs to be an informed patient, and that begins with understand your health conditions and speaking up when you do not.

The attorneys at Pegalis & Erickson have helped those suffering from avoidable medical mistakes obtain fair compensation for over 40 years. Call our Long Island practice at (516) 684-2900 or visit our website if you have any questions about medical malpractice. We hope you and your family have a safe holiday season.

What do you think of the news that more Americans are living alone? New report from U.S. Census Bureau says 28% of all households are single-person, compared to only 17% in 1970. Also, today only 20% of all household are married couples with kids, compared to 40% in 1970.

According to a July 2013 CBS News report, missed diagnoses are the most common medical malpractice claims, accounting for between 26 and 63 percent of total cases. In addition, between 15 to 48 percent of missed diagnoses cases result in death. Some of the most common missed diagnoses in adult cases are cancer and heart attacks, while meningitis and cancers are the most commonly misdiagnosed cases for children.

After misdiagnoses, medication errors are the next common cause of medical malpractice claims. In fact, medication errors account for between six to 20 percent of medical malpractice claims. Medication errors occur when a health care provider administers an incorrect dosage of medication or fails to notice if a patient is allergic to a certain type of medication. A healthcare provider may accidently administer the wrong dosage because he or she misreads the medication label or misreads another doctor’s prescription notes.

If a healthcare provider fails to diagnose a medical condition or administer the right dosage of medication, he or she can be held legally responsible for related-injuries. If you would like to learn more about medical malpractice in Long Island, call Pegalis & Erickson at (516) 684-2900.

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